About GettingCloserToOurGod

This blog is written by Todd Christenson. He was raised in Nebraska and currently lives on Long Island in New York.
Though out my childhood, my family attended church. We prayed together at meals. I thought I was prepared for life.
After college, I moved to New York City. Shy, unsure of myself, building an identity in worldly things, increasingly prideful, self-righteousness, a controlling nature.
In 2013, God spoke through someone, suggesting I confess my sins. I did. I realized that every day, I’d been glorifying myself, not God.
Today, God’s teaching me to have my identity in Him, only, my dependency in Him, not myself, being who He wants me to be, not the world, loving Him first, loving others as myself.

This last Summer, my wife and I listed to much of the audio version of Reviving Ophelia. Being published in 1996, the material is dated as far as social media and mobile device usage in 2017. The depth and understanding … Continue reading →

Last week, during a long overdue call with a friend, he mentioned he had just attended a Men’s conference that had great impact on him. The theme of his talks was ‘Follow Me’ including readings from Luke’s Gospel, the speaker was Mike … Continue reading →

Last month, I had the honor to hear Immaculée speak at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. There were many wonderful speakers but after listening to her, I had to own her book. Immaculée spoke about forgiving the vary people … Continue reading →

Recently, on a long drive home after dropping my Son off at camp, I listened to several Ted Talk summaries on Ted Radio Hour, followed by a series of 6 Podcasts by Andy Stanley titled “Who needs God?” The “accepting … Continue reading →

Yesterday (7/1/2017), I watched as the story broke about the death of Bianca Roberson, in what is being called a case of “road rage”, today, David Desper is charged with murder. So many times over the years, I too, have … Continue reading →

Who needs God? Perhaps nobody. Perhaps everybody. Perhaps we should talk about it. Listened to this series of talks by Andy Stanley on a run last week. Great listening. 1 Who Needs God, Part One – Atheist 2.0 Americans are … Continue reading →

Yesterday, I was challenge when a friend explained how he talks with people in the deli line that he doesn’t know, sometimes sharing about the pain in his life. The chat reminded me of a podcast “Don’t Waste Your Pain” by … Continue reading →

Sometime in the early 90’s, I began attending Redeemer Presbyterian Church. I believe I went the first time when a friend from my home town was visiting New York City. In ’94, I was married, my wife was later baptized at … Continue reading →

In September 2013, a man in Hong Kong explained to me that his companies research (link below) showed that engaging with the bible at least 4 times per week could change peoples lives. They built a free mobile app called GoTandem … Continue reading →

The posts on this blog are mostly articles, books, videos, bible verses, sermons, reflections from a conversation, etc. that someone was kind enough to suggest I read, listen to or view. This is one of those such articles. In this case, a friends … Continue reading →